La Belle
Jean Paul Gaultier La Belle Eau de Parfum is a vanilla fragrance that spends its first half hour pretending to be a citrus one.
Bergamot opens it, and it is the bitter, slightly floral citrus of a proper cologne rather than a sweet one. Green pear comes in alongside, crisp and cool and deliberately unripe, which is a useful trick: the pear reads as juice rather than sugar and keeps the top clean. Then vanilla takes over, and it does so slowly. This is not the vanilla of a baking tray. It is softer and powdery, with a creaminess that spreads across the skin and takes the brightness down with it.
With only three materials, the interest here is in the handover rather than in any complexity. What you get is a clear two part structure, bright then warm, with the pear acting as the hinge. Short does not mean simple here, because the handover takes long enough to be worth following.
As an eau de parfum it has the oil content to last through an evening, and the vanilla is what you will still find on a scarf the next morning. It suits autumn and winter, works well at night, and is easy enough in the opening to carry through a day at work. It was released in 2019. It is aimed at women, it is generous on skin, and it rewards two sprays rather than five. If you like sweet fragrance but not heavy fragrance, this sits in the gap between the two.
Jean Paul Gaultier began as a French fashion house, its founder showing women's clothes from 1976 and opening his own Paris boutique in 1984. The perfume side started in 1993. The Spanish group Puig became the majority owner in 2011 and took full control of the fragrances in 2016.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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